Rep. Ken King outlines legislative priorities on pre-session district tour

PLAINVIEW — State Rep. Ken King has been traveling his district on his customary pre-legislative tour, having town hall meetings and discussions with citizens in communities he represents, laying out his expectations for the upcoming 88th Texas Legislature. King made stops in Dimmitt, Tulia and Plainview Thursday as part of the tour.

The Republican from Canadian represents House District 88, which, beginning in January, will snake down from the northeastern Panhandle, across the northwestern South Plains down to the northern Permian Basin and include Pampa, Plainview, Levelland and Andrews as some of its most populous cities.

King, who was initially elected in 2012 and uncontested in the 2022 primaries, is chairman of the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee and is a member of the House Public Education Committee and the Energy Council.

Some of King’s priorities for the 2023 session are public education, infrastructure and property tax reform, he told constituents Tuesday afternoon at the Plainview Chamber of Commerce.

On the education front, school safety will be a top priority, King said, along with addressing a growing teacher shortage and enhancing virtual learning opportunities.

“I had a colleague tell me, ‘This isn’t going to be a public ed session,’ and I said, ‘Well, I beg to differ.’”

“The citizens of Texas are going to demand the legislature do something” on school safety, King said. “We started down this road after the Santa Fe shooting in 2018, and then right after that, while we’re completing our work as a legislature, we had a pandemic, and unfortunately, a lot of things that we started never got completed on a lot of fronts.”

“This time I don’t think we’re not going to do something,” King added. “School safety is going to suck a lot of oxygen out of the room in the 88th Legislative Session.”

King’s plans include the so-called “hardening” of schools, or increasing campus security in an attempt to keep attackers from accessing school buildings. King said he expects the legislature to explore options like adding more armed personnel on campus, metal detectors or additional fencing, but cautioned against taking that to the extreme.

“If you put a generation of Texans in school behind razor wire — basically send them to school in prison — what’s our mental health situation going to look like in 20 years? I think that’s a valid concern, and I’m hoping the legislature doesn’t go that particular way,” King said.

King also pushed back on an idea popular with many of his Republican colleagues, denouncing what is commonly referred to as school choice, parental choice, or a voucher program. That policy, championed by Gov. Greg Abbott, would take money from the public school system and give it to parents to use on tuition if they choose to send their child to a private school.

“The social justice movement of the session is going to be school vouchers,” King said. “It sounds like a great idea, except … when you take money out of the system, small schools get hurt first, because we fund schools in Texas on a price-per-head basis.”

King also noted that the state does not have oversight of private school curriculum, library materials or whether a school teaches critical race theory, which was banned from Texas public school curriculum in the 87th Legislature with a bill King supported.

“You don’t get to stick your nose in their library,” King said. “I will not be supporting the voucher initiative. Never have, never will. It’s not going to happen.”

Infrastructure will be another hot topic during the session, King said, highlighting topics like rural broadband, the power grid and rural roads.

King stressed the importance of expanding fiber broadband networks to rural, underserved areas. He said fiber is more resilient and reliable than other internet distribution methods typically used in rural areas like satellites or radio frequencies, which he said is important during extreme weather.

“This isn’t a policy that’s going to happen tomorrow or even next year, but we’re investing in it now,” King said. “It kind of goes back to the old adage about the best time to plant a tree: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the next best time is today.”

“I certainly don’t want to leave out property taxes,” King added, suggesting major changes are needed to bring rising property appraisals under control.

“Property taxes are out of hand … and I think appraisal reform is going to be a big-ticket item,” King said. “You can’t keep raising home values the same in Hale County as you do in Travis County, so I think there’s got to be an algorithm to treat property owners fair.”

“So, between property taxes, school safety and infrastructure needs, I think the legislature is going to have plenty to do,” King said.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Rep. Ken King outlines legislative priorities on pre-session district tour